CD player skips - how to repair?

[tgr]

Hi

I have a Harman-Kardon HD7500 which was quite an expensive and well thought of machine in its day.

Bought on ebay in perfect working order but (surprise, surprise) it sounds good but skips from time to time, particularly with CDs that have many tracks - and does it enough to make it unusable.

What kind of thing would have gone wrong and could it be repaired - I would feel bad throwing it out but on the other hand if it's effectively irreperable I might have to?

Thanks for any advice

tgr

[tgr]

Thanks both - it is the MkII version.

I did try to clean the lens but that didn't have any effect as far as I could tell. Could always try again as it costs nothing

I have tried to cycle through from first to last track, which seems to work, so I would have thought that movement of the laser assembly is not impeded?

It sounds good that the lasers are readily available and easy to fit - is there any way to separate the well-manufactured ones from the rubbish?

Apologies if these are simplistic questions

tgr

[tgr]

Tony thanks that's very helpful.

So I just pop off the protective cover and clean the underside of the lens?

The machine absolutely reeked of tobacco when we got it so what you say makes sense.

With any luck it just needs a clean rather than a replacement laser unit

tgr

[tgr]

Thaank you gents - I will have a crack at this next weekend and let you know how I get on


tgr

[tgr]

I took the case off. It was evident from the screws that the case had been removed before.

I cleaned the lens carefully as advised, also underneath, having removed the cap. I used window cleaner for this and cleaned it fairly comprehensively.

I then cleaned the runner and the metal shaft with alhohol and applied light oil with a cotton wool bud.

Once reassembled, cds are barely read any better than before. Most of the time the player successfully reads how many tracks are on the disk (though not always). However it hunts noisily the exact location of tracks and, once it has decided, skips after a few seconds, sometimes within that track, sometimes to an entirely different track - in no discernable pattern. Sound - when it comes out - is very good, however.

What is unknown is what has been done to the machine before I got it. This is what worries me, as I am fairly certain I haven’t ballsed things up myself. If someone before me has mucked around with the calibration I don’t have the equipment to reset it and it’s probably beyond economic repair, unless you think otherwise?

Hmmm.

[tgr]

Thanks Tony

I'm using original cds in good condition - so I'm assuming that the problem shouldn't be anything to do with those.

The wires going from the laser assembly to the PCB are bunched thin wires, and I did notice that one of them - the uppermost one connected to the left hand side (red) connector of the laser assembly - was frayed. More evidence I suppose that the machine has been interfered with.

tgr